Bedard makes it through 5 innings, but Mariners fall 3-2

One day after unleashing an onslaught as common as a sighting of Halley’s Comet, the Seattle Mariners’ offense reverted to more familiar ways on Wednesday.

They managed just four hits against Detroit Tigers starter Rick Porcello, not enough to overcome another improved-but-still-mediocre outing by Erik Bedard in a 3-2 loss at Safeco Field.

Now, we can probably just go ahead and assume Seattle’s offense is going to have its struggles until this season is over. So what’s more pressing is the matter of Bedard, who has yet to throw a thoroughly impressive game in his first season back from major shoulder surgery.

That’s not to say he’s been a disappointment. But Wednesday’s start was again symptomatic of the same troubles that have plagued the left-hander so far this season.

Still, manager Eric Wedge was willing to chalk it up to progress.

“There’s still more in there in regard to him being a complete pitcher,” Wedge said. “He knows it. We know it. He just needs to keep grinding and keep doing the work, and the rest is going to take care of itself.”

Part of that grind: overcoming the home-run ball. Ryan Raburn belted a solo blast over the center-field fence in the first inning, the seventh round-tripper Bedard has allowed in 18 2/3 innings this year.

And the lefty’s inconsistency remained throughout. The Tigers pushed another run across in the third inning after Austin Jackson reached on a walk, moved to second base on a groundout and scored on an RBI single by Miguel Cabrera.

Detroit’s third run came in the fifth, Bedard’s final inning, after Raburn and Cabrera both walked and Brennan Boesch stroked a two-out RBI single.

All told, Bedard was serviceable – five innings, five hits, three runs, five walks and a pair of strikeouts. But he threw 95 pitches, just 51 of them for strikes, and is still trying to regain the command he had before his injury-plagued seasons in Seattle.

If that’s even possible. Bedard isn’t so sure.

“I don’t know if it’ll ever be like it used to be, after three surgeries,” he said. “You just work hard, do the best you can, and hopefully good things happen.”

This was better though, yes?

“I got to five innings,” Bedard said. “That’s a step forward.”

Anything else?

“Hopefully next time, I get to six innings,” said Bedard, whose record fell to 0-4 with a 7.71 ERA. He hasn’t pitched six full innings since June 2 of 2009, which was only nine starts ago.

Of course, if Bedard had received the same run support allowed Doug Fister on Tuesday, when the Mariners scored 13 runs on 15 hits and 11 walks, Bedard would have been in line for his first win of the season.

As it was, Porcello more or less had his way with Seattle’s offense. The Mariners scored in the third inning when Jack Wilson singled – his first hit since his much-publicized benching – and later scored on a single to right field by Ichiro.

But that was it against the Detroit starter. Porcello gave up another two hits to start the fourth, but struck out Michael Saunders, got Luis Rodriguez to fly out to left and struck out rookie Carlos Peguero, who made his first Major League start, to end the inning.

Seattle had better luck against Tigers closer Jose Valverde. He yielded Adam Kennedy’s first home run of the year to lead off the bottom of the ninth, then a double by Michael Saunders two batters later to move the tying run into scoring position.

But Milton Bradley struck out looking, and Peguero fanned for the third time to end the game.

And it was a shame, because David Pauley was fantastic in relief of Bedard. Pauley retired the first 10 batters he faced before allowing a single to Jackson with one out in the ninth, though Pauley still managed to face the minimum – Jackson was gunned trying to steal second base by Chris Gimenez, then Raburn grounded out to shortstop.

“He really did a great job,” Wedge said. “We had no thoughts of him going that far but ultimately, he did everything that he could do to give us a chance.”

The most impressive aspect, at least to Wedge: Pauley threw just 32 pitches in four innings. Math indicates that’s an average of eight tosses per frame.

“I feel comfortable right now,” said Pauley, who dropped his ERA to 1.50. “My mechanics feel good. When everything’s working right, it just kind of flows together. That’s kind of the way it’s been lately. Hopefully it continues.”

What the Mariners hope doesn’t continue is the way Peguero swung the bat in his first big-league start. He went 0-for-4 with the three Ks, taking his hacks but coming up empty with the exception of a deep flyout to left field to lead off the third inning.

The 6-foot-5, 245-pounder is with the club while Justin Smoak is on the Bereavement List. It isn’t likely Peguero will stay with the team when Smoak returns, but while he’s here, the Mariners are hoping the 24-year-old can inject a little bit of power into their struggling lineup.

“Sometimes, you go out there and go 0-for-4,” Peguero said. “Sometimes you go out there and get three, four hits.”

He was talking about his day at the plate, though also could have been describing the Mariners’ fortunes in this three-game series.